Being an effective self-leader take a lot of hard work and dedication. There are many
different skills you need to know how to use to be able to lead you and your team to success
efficiently. Self-leaders should be aware of what type of creative thinking process they use in
most situations. The two primary processes are known as opportunity thinking and obstacle
thinking. Opportunity thinking is imagining future experiences with self–talk that catapults one
to undertake new opportunities, while obstacle thinking is getting stopped at all the roadblocks
on the way (Neck, Manz, & Houghton, 2017). Effective leaders need to be prepared for
unexpected things and tackle them as soon or before problems reveal their self.
Opportunity thinkers are quick to action and do not stand back. They do not let problems
set them back. According to the self-assessment over opportunity thinking vs. obstacle thinking,
in Self-Leadership, I am 80% an opportunity thinker (Neck, Manz, & Houghton, 2017). I was
